What to expect in 2025

Franklin
Village of Franklin President David Goldberg discussed goals for the village in 2025. He shared that Franklin plans to focus on flood control and stormwater management, sidewalks, and communication within the community.

“Flood control and stormwater management is Franklin’s most pressing issue. As homes have been expanded or rebuilt, and properties regraded or naturally grown out, Franklin’s ditch and culvert system has been significantly impacted. Council, along with resident cooperation, needs to reestablish proper stormwater practices to protect our properties,” Goldberg said.

Council also plans to seek funding for sidewalks, according to Goldberg. The specific target is “13 Mile from Telegraph to Inkster, along Franklin Road, south of 13 Mile to Northwestern Highway, and along Inkster Road from 14 Mile to Northwestern Highway.”

The intention of the extension is to interconnect commercial districts and make downtown Franklin more accessible.

The final goal Goldberg shared is improving communication between the village and residents.  An interactive mobile app and an online survey and complaint tracking program are among the ways Goldberg identified as ways to improve this connection.

 

Bingham Farms
Bingham Farms Village Manager Ken Marten said one of the village’s goals for the new year is to assist commercial property owners with occupancy concerns.

Because of the pandemic, there is a lot of office space in metro Detroit. While the pandemic is over, some of the practices that decrease the need for office space are still in place, according to Marten.

It is a goal that he also focused on last year, and the plan is to continue to do so in 2025.

“There is a glut of commercial office space, and there needs to be less for the whole region to remain competitive long term,” Marten said.

Road reconstruction is another goal from last year that the village plans to carry into this one.

“Village Council, village staff, and engineering consultants are working on a road reconstruction plan. Village-owned roads are at the end of their useful lives, and with significant residential input, we’ve made great progress in devising a reconstruction plan that will start with the 2025 construction season,” Marten said.

Bloomfield Hills

Bloomfield Hills City Manager David Hendrickson said that all of the city’s 2024 goals were accomplished, with the exception of improving the zoning ordinance.

That goal will roll over to 2025, as he said the city plans to organize and clarify ordinances to help residents and developers understand what the expectations are when it comes to improving properties.

“Bloomfield Hills is a great place to live, and the desire to live here is evident in the constant construction and property improvements,” he said.

One of the goals Bloomfield Hills completed last year was the reaffirming of its master plan, which laid out action items for the next five years.

“Some of these (action items) include continuing to concentrate on our beautification efforts throughout the city, promoting public education regarding ordinance meaning and the permitting process, ensuring our tree canopy is protected through replacement requirements and improving the process, reducing costs, and eliminating the application of minor and inconsequential requests. We will do this through transparency and best practices,” Hendrickson said.

Restructuring the city’s public safety department and identifying winning grant opportunities were among other 2024 accomplishments, according to Hendrickson.

 

Birmingham
Birmingham City Manager Jana Ecker shared three goals that the city has for the new year. The first goal is to create a community gathering space.

In 2023, the city purchased the YMCA building at 400 E. Lincoln.

Ecker shared that the goal is to “finalize planning and design for a new building at 400 E. Lincoln to house the future home of Next, the Birmingham branch of the YMCA, and to create a community gathering place for Birmingham residents of all ages to recreate and socialize.”

Birmingham recently adopted the Birmingham Green Healthy Climate Plan, which the city plans to implement this year.

Through the plan, Birmingham will be “instituting policies and practices that enhance the natural and built environment, improve residents’ quality of life, and foster resiliency,” according to Ecker.

Lastly, Ecker said several infrastructure needs will be addressed this year, including the needs of the police station and Birmingham City Hall.

 

Beverly Hills
Village of Beverly Hills Council President John George said last year was a busy year for the village, with long-term plans related to infrastructure and parks, as well as completed public works projects, such as the Riverside Bridge renovation and sewer pump station upgrades, among the projects that got some attention.

“In 2025, we are hoping to see a lot of the planning and mid-stage project work on several projects come to completion,” George said.

George said the village is looking forward to residents seeing the replacement of the Beverly Park play structure, the completion of the acquisition of land on the Rouge River, which will serve as a new park and nature center, and the approval of the Beverly Park 2050 long-term planning project.

He added that the hope is to install some new sidewalks throughout the village in 2025.

“That, along with completing the process of hiring our new village manager and hiring a replacement for our retiring finance director, means 2025 is an even bigger year for Beverly Hills, and I couldn’t be more excited about all of the positive things we have coming this year,” George said.

 

Bloomfield Township
Newly elected Bloomfield Township Supervisor Mike McCready said over the next year he is going to focus on the issues in Bloomfield Township that he campaigned on.

“Ensuring that our compensation and our benefit package for employees is competitive in the community; that we look at our roads and how to better finance our road replacement and repair; and then our water and sewer costs — trying to get those under control to figure out if there’s an investment that we need to make to help offset some of these expensive increases we keep seeing in water and sewer,” McCready said.